Hong Kong's leader says to create new national security law in 2024

Hong Kong leader John Lee said Wednesday the semi-autonomous city would create its own national security law in 2024, four years after Beijing imposed sweeping legislation aimed at silencing dissent.

In a three-hour-plus policy address, the Beijing-anointed leader unveiled measures aimed at revitalising Hong Kong's Covid-ravaged economy and flagging population growth, while asserting the need to protect the Chinese city from "external forces".

"Some countries are undermining China and the implementation of 'one country, two systems' in Hong Kong for their own benefits," he said, referring to the governance model agreed by Britain and China under which the city would keep some autonomy and freedoms following the 1997 handover.

"External forces continue to meddle in Hong Kong affairs," he said.

"We must guard against those seeking to provoke conflict... and remain alert to acts of 'soft resistance' in different forms," said Lee, using a phrase that China and Hong Kong officials have started deploying in speeches to denote anti-government actions.

Massive pro-democracy protests rocked the finance hub in 2019, bringing hundreds of thousands of people to the streets to call for greater freedoms and more autonomy from mainland China.

In response, Beijing imposed a national security law to punish four major crimes -- secession, subversion, terrorism and collusion with foreign forces -- with sentences ranging up to life in prison.

Security chief-turned-leader Lee -- who is under US sanctions for his role in stamping out the protests -- said Hong Kong would "continue to safeguard national security".

"The government is pressing ahead to draw up effective legislative options and will complete the legislative exercise in 2024 to fulfil our constitutional duty," Lee said.

Under the Basic Law -- the city's mini-constitution -- Hong Kong is required to implement its own law combating seven security-related crimes, including treason and espionage.

The task, often referred to as "a constitutional responsibility" by the city's government, has yet to be fulfilled more than 25 years after Hong Kong's return to Chinese rule.

The last legislative attempt in 2003 was shelved after half a million people took to the streets in protest.

According to Hong Kong's Security Bureau, as of the end of September, 280 people have been arrested and 30 have been convicted under Beijing's current national security law.

The sweeping legislation has effectively snuffed out political dissent, with activists and pro-democracy figures either rounded up or fleeing to other countries. It has also affected other areas of life in the city, including the arts, literature and children's schooling.

Lee on Wednesday said Hong Kong would "roll out patriotic education to enhance national identity... laying a good foundation for our national unity and solidarity".

His announcement came a day after Beijing passed a law to strengthen "patriotic education" for children and families as "some people are at a loss about what is patriotism", said China's state-run Xinhua news agency.

- Housing and fertility -

Hong Kong -- which in April finally dropped harsh anti-Covid restrictions that left the finance hub isolated -- is "set to... resume growth" this year, Lee said, adding that the first half of 2023 has seen the economy grow 2.2 percent.

He unveiled measures to boost the city's ailing property market amid falling real estate prices, slashing stamp duty by half to 7.5 percent for non-local buyers and Hongkongers buying additional properties.

The city's "long-standing problem" of subdivided units -- flats divided into small spaces in often dilapidated buildings -- would also be tackled via a taskforce.

The issue of affordable housing in Hong Kong remains one of the city's major policy roadblocks -- something that successive administrations have failed to tackle.

Lee also sounded the alarm on Hong Kong's "persistently low birth rate", set against a population that has among the longest life expectancies in the world.

A "one-off cash bonus of $20,000 (US$2,600) for each baby born today or after" will be offered to Hong Kongers or parents who are permanent residents -- a measure that will last for three years.

The city last year recorded 32,500 births, the lowest level since records began in 1961, official statistics showed.

Outside the government headquarters before Lee's speech, the League of Social Democrats -- one of the city's few remaining opposition political groups -- mounted a five-people protest.

"Without democracy, there can be no livelihood," read a banner they carried. "Only with public oversight of government will there be happiness in society."